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Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Humpday Hello to my Submissive Beauty!

Greetings and salutations Humpday Nation - half way through!!!! We have officially survived the month of Tyra and Jenn and April Fools Day but I am once again about to become a baseball/soccer widow as my friends all start spending their evenings at the ballpark or driving to the various soccer tournaments....poor me. Guess I'll have to suck it up and read! Doesn't that sound like a tragedy. While I sit here feeling sorry for myself, allow me to take you with...to the dark side! We like things a little dark here at Guilty Indulgence - dark chocolate, red wine, things that go bump (or bump you) in the night....while you snicker away on that last bad pun, have a little snack on some eye candy and join us for some more of our spotlight author this week: Eliza Gayle.

Eliza Gayle, Submissive Beauty, Resplendence Publishing, 2011Eager to understand her secret desires, Gabrielle enters “The Sanctuary.” Inside she’s immediately torn between fear of the unknown and a craving to learn more, until the lights dim. From the first sound of Thomas’ calm and controlled voice, she is mesmerized. With an underlying need in her emotional spirit that requires more than sex, she is easily seduced into a world of dominance and submission under false pretenses.

For Thomas, an experienced Master, Gabrielle is an interesting mix of defiant, naive and submissive. Her sharp mind and wit appeal to him as much as the curves of her lush figure. He accepts the challenge to help train her despite the danger she represents. Long term anything for him is out of the question. If he does his job right, his protégé David will end up the perfect Dom for her and Thomas will move on with his armor intact.

Their journey puts Gabrielle at the mercy of two men who teach her how to embrace her darkest needs within a tight bond of trust. Unfortunately, betrayal lurks on the path to total surrender.

I know that Rebecca reviewed this piece last fall, but I was dying to have the opportunity to check it out for myself. Allow me to tell you what I discovered: Having read several of Eliza Gayle’s books over the past couple years, I was pretty excited to see what she'd come up with outside the paranormal (Love her Pentacles of Magick and Black Cougar series!) and knew she had some pretty hot menage to her credit as well. I now definitely place Submissive Beauty on the "keeper" shelf not simply because it is smokin hot, which it is, but because it is actually very well written.

I am a big fan of encouraging people to do things outside their comfort zone, trying new things is about freedom. Ms. Gayle helped me to elucidate my perceptions by honing in on the aspect of freedom is really about Trust. There are alot of D/s books out there - some good and some not so good. The good ones are consumer wise, reminding folks about "safe, sane and consensual" and practicing safe sex. The really good ones provide something more - characters that make you feel for them.

That being said, I immensely enjoyed the heroine Gabrielle being a curvy, intelligent woman with a past including divorce and finding the nerve to explore her darker side by going to a BDSM demonstration at a local club. Oddly enough, it was the mystery of Master Thomas that captivated me and kept me riveted to the story line. This Dominant man was intriguing, frustrating, sexy and sometimes sweet - a complete dichotomy really and nicely offset by his counterpart and trainee, David.
The self discovery voyage all three take was a roller coaster ride of testing personal limits and scorching hot sex. A true M/F/M menage storyline emerges as their trust levels build and their relationship evolves into something new and not very common. It was gratifying to note that no real inherent change took place in anyone's personalities - Gabrielle continues to be a strong, independent woman, just one who learns also how to embrace a true submissive lifestyle. Master Thomas remains every inch the Dominant male he begins as, but he too learns a thing or two about trust as he begins to contemplate a life with this pair. While David is an integral part of the story, his character isn't quite as fully developed for me, but just like Gabrielle, I can't imagine them not having him as a part of the "them" that they become.
Ever the jaded soul that I am, I was in tears during a tender collaring ceremony at one point in the book as it became completely self-revelatory for all three characters as they pondered how to move past their pasts. Perhaps it is moving past that past, relying on that ultimate Trust that allows one to surrender completely and find something greater than just submission...Love. I didn't know whether to sigh with envy or fan my rising temperature on any given page - Ms. Gayle has mastered the art of some tantalizing BDSM erotic writing for sure. She writes the kind of stories that makes you want to know what happens after that last page!

RATING: I give Submissive Beauty a spanky delish 5 chocolate-dipped strawberries. Please have Masters Thomas and David deliver them to my house - I'll wait patiently!

This book was given to us by the author for an unbiased review. Many thanks.

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